COACH OF THE YEAR: Marc Trestman may have been gone from the CFL for four years, but it didn’t take him long to remind the league why he was one of the most respected coaches around when he was with the Montreal Alouettes.

This year, Trestman took over the Argonauts’ head coaching job in February.

In 2016, they finished in last place in the East Division.

Under Trestman’s tutelage in 2017, they ended the year as the division’s champions and got them to Sunday’s Grey Cup game.

So, turning around a last-place team is no easy task, and it was enough to bump him ahead of Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson, who guided his team to the best record in the CFL for a second straight year.

“There’s plays on days, and moments, where things happen and without those things happening we wouldn’t be here,” Trestman said. “As much as I’m grateful for our players and coaches, it’s really hard for me to understand how in a team sport, any one person can be singled-out in any way.

“Without the team, the individual is nothing.”

Trestman previously won the award in 2009 when he was with the Alouettes.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Stamps linebacker Alex Singleton was the best player on the league’s stingiest defence.

The 23-year-old tallied 74 of 77 first-place votes and earned himself a fitting reward for a dominant season.

After bursting on to the scene last season as a rookie, Singleton was even better in 2017.

He set a CFL record for most tackles in a season with 123 — only B.C. Lions linebacker Solomon Elimimian had more — and anchored a defence that allowed a league-low 349 points.

“To be, I guess, the centrepiece of the greatest team I’ve ever been on and the way things have been going, probably one of the greatest that will ever do it, with the precedent we set this year,” Singleton said.

TOP CANADIAN: Some years, the Most Outstanding Canadian Player award can feel like a consolation prize.

Not this year. Blue Bombers running back Andrew Harris could easily have been the West Division’s nominee for Most Outstanding Player. His outstanding 2017 season saw him become the first player in CFL history to rush for 1,000 yards and also finish with more than 850 yards receiving.

The definition of a dual-threat, Harris carried the Bombers to second-place in the West Division, earning them their first home playoff date since 2011, while also setting the CFL record for receptions by a running back, with 105.

“I wanna thank Winnipeg, my hometown, for bringing me home,” Harris said. “This has been the most fun playing football that I can remember.

“Football you go throw the ups and downs and things that make you want to quit. Don’t quit. There are things that motivate and inspire you.”

TOP ROOKIE: Argonauts’ James Wilder Jr. didn’t even need a full season to pick up his first piece of CFL hardware.

While the Florida State product started 2017 mostly as a special teams player for the Argos, he really took off when he became the team’s starting running back for the final seven games of the regular season.

Once he got his stop, Wilder was a force to be reckoned with, rushing for 700 yards in those games and picking up 441 receiving yards. In total, his 872 rushing yards had his finish with the fifth-highest total in the league despite starting in just 10 games.

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER: With all due respect to the Ottawa RedBlacks’ Diontae Spencer, there was simply no special teams player who came close to having the same impact as Roy Finch.

After an impressive first season in 2016 with Calgary, the Stampeders kick returner came back in 2017 and lit the league on fire.

His 1,200 punt return yards were the third-most ever in a CFL season – trailing only Henry Williams in 1991 and Chris Wright in 1995 – and he added three punt return touchdowns and recorded nine punt returns that exceeded 30 yards.

The Oklahoma Sooner product also added 696 kickoff return yards and became the first Stampeders player since Rene Paredes in 2013 to win the award.

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: Bombers tackle Stanley Bryant didn’t waste any time. Almost as soon as he was rewarded for his efforts this season with the CFL’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman, Bryant was deferring to his teammates on the Bombers o-line.

“Those are my brothers … we’re one heartbeat,” Bryant said.

The Bombers offensive line was a dominant, immovable force for most of the season.

Not only did they help the offence rush for the most yards of any team in 2017, they were also the centre of a team that put up the second-most offensive points in the CFL.

The North Carolina native became the first Bombers player to win the award since Dave Mudge did so in 2001.